10 Weirdest Failed Constitutional Amendments

Rename the United States of America to the United States of Earth, 1893

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Wisconsin Rep. Lucas Miller figured electricity would somehow facilitate the stitching-together all the world's nations as part of the United States. Osage City Free Press/Public Domain/Wikipedia

File this amendment under "jumping the gun," "putting the cart before the horse" or "counting your chickens before they hatch." In 1893, Wisconsin Rep. Lucas Miller figured eventually every nation in the world would be admitted as part of the United States, so we might as well go ahead and rename the country the "United States of Earth." But how, you may ask, would legislative representatives spread across such a vast territory conduct the business of government? Don't worry, he had the answer. They'd "vote by electricity," of course (whatever that means) [source: Special to The New York Times].

Amazingly, that was only the beginning of the amendment's weird proposals. Among its other questionable ideas was to abolish the Army and Navy and instead rely on state militias for defense. It also called for all laws to have the continuous support of a majority of the people they affect, which, while noble in theory, would be difficult in practice. In Miller's defense, the amendment was submitted "by request" (on behalf of someone else), so he may not actually be to blame for some of stranger proposals [source: Musmanno].